My 9 month GSD Lola has had a few bouts of giardia and several rounds of diarrhea during her first year so far. The last round of giardia, the vet had her on Tylan powder for 5 weeks since we just couldn't get rid of the giardia. After being off of the Tylan powder for a week (and having firm stools the whole time!), the diarrhea came back. I took a stool sample in and it came back negative -- no giardia -- but the vet wanted me to go back to using the Tylan powder everyday until her stools firm up and then e/o day for about a month. I've also been adding canned pumpkin to her food every day. It's been 4 days now that we've been back on the Tylan and she doesn't have diarrhea -- but her stool is not very firm either. On top of that, her gas is HORRIBLE. I'm talking the-room-smells-for-an-hour HORRIBLE. I'm starting to wonder if it's her food, maybe it's too much for her? I've been feeding her really good food -- Fromm Large Breed Puppy -- but maybe I need to switch to a limited ingredient food, I'm not sure. Any food recommendations or even thoughts on holistic solutions to help with soft stool and gas?

If she was fine on the food before the giardia, it's probably not the food. You might need to build up all of the good stuff in her gut again. Get her on a good probiotic. This is a fantastic supplement for soothing the stomach (which may just be inflamed after all of the problems):Altarulm | Chinese Herbal Remedies | Qi Herbal Apothecary

If you can't find it, look for the individual ingredients in a health food store (slippery elm, marshmallow, and licorice).

Edit: I should add that the food might not be too rich for her in general, but it might be right now while her stomach is inflamed. You could give her a couple of days of a bland diet (canned pumpkin, cottage cheese, yogurt, could also do boiled chicken and some people feed rice) and slowly work the kibble back in.

Because Harry has EPI he has had SIBO 3 times now. But I understand a dog can get SIBO without being EPI positive.

To treat, I purchase the Tylan powder and a cheap capsule making machine with size '00' gel capsules and made up my own capsules which he got twice a day for a course of 40 days.

After 40 days I stopped giving Tylan and within 2 weeks he had SIBO again. So I gave him another 40 day course, this time when the 40 days had ended and I was no longer giving him Tylan I gave in Protexin Probiotic Animal Health store - Probiotics - Protexin Powder Green Label 1kg - Protexin Soluble 125g Oramge Lable (you may have other probiotics in the US). Then I ran out of the probiotic and didn't replace it so Harry got SIBO again, so again he is on a 40 day course of Tylan and when this course finishes I will put him back on the probiotic everyday.

if your GSD is eating and eating and eating and losing weight - please consider testing for EPI.

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She has been tested for EPI -- came back negative. And I tried switching her food a few months ago (holistic naturals) but she started have 5 bowel movements a day -- so I switched back to Fromm (slowly, of course). The diarrhea and giardia has been such a constant problem that I honestly don't know if she is ok on the current food or not...

Even though she's tested negative for giardia recently there might still be some lingering in her system. It can be extremely difficult to eradicate completely, and even the antigen tests aren't 100% accurate at getting a positive reading. Some folks on this site have had a lot of luck with a product called Kocci Free, a natural supplement you can buy on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Amber-Technology-Kocci-Free/dp/B002MV9UDS

I've never used it with my dog but there are a couple threads here with folks that had long-term issues with diarrhea/giardia and Kocci Free cleared it up. Might be worth a try!

Our dog had giardia 3x and between that and treatment her GI is messed up. The best thing we did was to stop kibble and we alternate feeding between a dehydrated raw, we use The Honest Kitchen and then we use a prepared raw, Natures Variety frozen patties, but there are different brands out there for both types of products.

Pumpkin did not do a thing for us, Tylan powder was never offered by our vet. Our dog's stool are perfect now, except if she has an extremely stressful event but even then her diarrhea clears up in a day or two. Prior to changing diet we'd end up at the vet.

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